Hello hello! 

This analysis is perfection, it made me cry! :) Thank you so much for writing it, it’s fabulous!

A major part of Hiccup’s character arc in HTTYD 2 is his self-discovery and acceptance of his role as Chief of the tribe. During Hiccup the Chief, he questions his position in the tribe and is torn between the duties he will have as Chief and his love of flying with Toothless and learning about dragons. What Hiccup really wants to be is a peacekeeper, someone who unites the worlds of dragons and Vikings. Hiccup does not see how he can be both the Chief and the peacekeeper in the archipelago.

Obviously, Hiccup does not think he can live up to his father’s wishes of him. He knows that he’s not like Stoick, can’t think or lead like him, can’t follow the model Chief that Stoick presents to his son. He straight up tells Astrid that he doesn’t know who he is, since he never knew his mother and wonders where he got all…this from.

Then Hiccup does meet Valka, and boy what a life changing event that is. For the first time, here’s someone else who truly understands what it’s like “to be a dragon”, to be that “free.” And more than that, it’s his own mother who understands him that well. Her comment about “this is who WE are” really stands out to Hiccup, because in the heat of the moment, he thinks that who he is as well.

Everything changes during that scene on the ice. There, Hiccup fails epically. He confronts Drago, which is a huge mistake as we all know. He tries and fails to change Drago’s mind on dragons, which is where his comment “I’m not the peacekeeper I thought I was” comes into play. Now his father is dead, his best friend is gone, and a madman is going to destroy his home while Hiccup is stranded on an island with the other people on Berk best equipped to deal with this crisis.

Again, Hiccup questions who he is. “I’m not the Chief you wanted me to be and I’m not the peacekeeper I thought I was,” he says. “I don’t know…” 

He’s not his father, clearly, and he’s afraid of that, because, as Hiccup says, “How can you be someone that great, that brave, that…selfless?” He knows he will have to lead the village, especially now that Stoick is dead, and that terrifies Hiccup because he doesn’t think he can live up to the standard that Stoick set. Hiccup sees himself as a failure at being a Chief because he didn’t do what was best to protect his people. Granted, he thought he was doing the best thing, but it wasn’t, and now two of the people/dragons he cares about most in the world are gone at his error.

And Hiccup’s not like Valka either. Valka cares very much about the dragons, and that’s awesome and also applies to Hiccup, but that’s pretty much all she cares about. After Cloudjumper took her, Valka didn’t do anything to help Berk. She left her village and her family behind and only focused on protecting and rescuing the dragons. For several reasons, Valka gave up on Berk and gave up on changing their minds about dragons. She could have tried, at least, but didn’t. Hiccup, on the other hand, more than almost anything else wants to bring peace to the dragons and Vikings.

Most importantly, Hiccup and his parents all had different ways of dealing with Drago. Stoick’s course of action is to fortify Berk for when Drago attacked, and plans to go to war. He wants to protect his people. Valka stays away entirely, only acting from a distance and with superior forces, rescuing dragons and destroying Eret’s fort. Hiccup is the only one, probably in all of Berk, that wants to change Drago’s mind about dragons. That’s Hiccup’s gig, and by the gods he is going change Drago’s mind. Except he doesn’t.

Now the “heart of a Chief and the soul of a dragon” line comes into the story, and it’s a fantastic summary of what exactly makes Hiccup the “one who can bring our worlds together.”

Despite what he believes, Hiccup does have what it takes to be Chief of Berk. Everyone sees that but him. Hiccup is blind to that fact because, as he says, he fears he could never be like his father. He spent years and years as the misfit on Berk, and even though things are different now, Hiccup still lives with that mantle in shadow in the back of his mind. And he’s still different from the people of Berk because of how much he loves dragons and his want to unite the dragons and Vikings. He’s the only one like that.

And that’s exactly why Hiccup is the only one who can bring the two together. Hiccup has what it takes to be Chief and he understands and loves dragons more than anyone on Berk. Whether Hiccup realizes it consciously or not, his mother’s statement to him reveals to Hiccup that he can be both the Chief AND the peacekeeper he wants to be. Valka is specifically talking about the situation with Drago and the stolen dragons, but her line actually applies very much to Hiccup’s entire life, bridging the gap he sees between his duty and his desires.

As a side note, the reason why Valka said this line is a very important indicator of her character as well. Valka lived for twenty years with the guilt and remorse from leaving Berk, her infant son, and loving husband behind, and a fair bit of blame towards herself because she was cowardly and never went back to try and change the situation in her home village. She was selfish, and although the twenty years has definitely tempered that, Valka felt it heavily for a while, and the reunion with her son and husband and Stoick’s death certainly brought those feelings back.

Valka realizes that Hiccup can do what she did not: unite the dragons and Vikings. He already did, for one thing. For another, I think on some level Valka noticed that Hiccup interacts with dragons differently than she does. Hiccup interacts with dragons more as a human, whereas she interacts with dragons more like a dragon. There’s a difference in the way Hiccup connects with Toothless and the way Valka connects with Cloudjumper. It’s hard to describe exactly what and why that is, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that Hiccup and Toothless have a unique detail to their relationship: their prosthetics. The bond between the two began when Hiccup injured and then repaired Toothless’ tail, and then further developed when Hiccup lost his foot. The circumstances of their friendship necessitated a closer connection, literally and symbolically, than did Valka and Cloudjumper’s.

Digression aside, Valka needed a way to inspire Hiccup, and her words were what he needed to reassert himself in the situation. I suspect that Hiccup didn’t fully believe his mother until he actually did free Toothless from Drago’s control and the two of them defeated him. Regardless, it was enough to break Hiccup out of his funk and realize that he can’t give up, even if he doubts that he is capable of being the Chief he is destined to be and the peacekeeper he wants to be. But it’s exactly the fact that Hiccup is both like his father and his mother, and the fact that he is not like either of them, that really enables Hiccup to trust in himself to be the Chief his tribe needs him to be.

I loved it, I guess...?

Sorry, I seem so indecisive about this. I genuinely adored that last scene from the moment Clara stepped into the TARDIS. Every last second of it. It was beautiful, moving. Just the absolutely best part about this whole episode. Amazing. Perfect acting, perfect treatment of regeneration, perfect writing... Yes, I even liked the blink-and-you'll-miss it regeneration from the point of view of a, well, viewer (the gif maker in me is crying about it still). It made the change all the more abrupt, jarring, with Clara's reaction absolutely believable and fitting.

Eleven is really quite adept at jumping to be the first in line to sacrifice himself. I mean, just at the top of my hat, in Moffat’s episodes he wanted to through himself into the crack in time, he flew the Pandorica into the TARDIS to jump-start Big Bang Two, and he entered his own time stream fully knowing the immense risks to save Clara.

Heroism - it’s not such a huge deal to him.

In a way, my favourite moment featuring the Eleventh Doctor, in which he truly stepped up - and isn’t that heroism? - is in “The Wedding of River Song”. Because he truly learns something: You don’t try to manipulate River Song. He learns that sometimes, you have to give in. That he has to treat her as an equal and can’t keep essential information from her.

That moment - where he proves that he values her sacrifice and acknowledges her suffering in the moment, where he marries her because he wants to - is worth more to me (and to his character development) than a quick “let’s die to save the universe”.